Improvement in railroad-chairs



J. ARMITAGE. RAILROAD CHAIR.

No. 37,668. Patented Feb. 17, 1-863.

W724 s aw UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN ARMITAGE, OF TROY, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILROAD-CHAIRS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 37,668, dated February17, 1863.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN ARMITAGE, of Troy,in the county of Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented a newand useful Improvement in Chairs forItailroad-Rails; and Ido herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ofthe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making apartof this specification, in which- Figure l is a longitudinal verticalsection of my invention, taken in the line or m, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is aplan or top "iew of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the twofigures.

.This invention consists in constructing the chair with an adjustable orhinged jaw, so ar ranged as to admit of a rail being removed from thechair, and also fitted or secured in it without detaching the chair fromthe sleeper, thereby effecting a saving in labor and expense, and alsoavoiding the injury hitherto done to the sleepers in consequence of therepeated driving in and withdrawing of spikes from the latter.

To enable those skilled in the artto fully understand and construct myinvention, 1 will proceed to describe it.

A' represents the base-plate of the chair, which is bent over at one endand curved so as to form a fixed jaw, B, of such a shape as to fitsnugly to thebase and neck of the rails 0, as shown clearly in Fig. 1.The base-plate at-the opposite end is bent over parallel with the mainportion, and rests upon it, as shown at I).

E represents an adjustable or hinged jaw, the shape of which isprecisely similar to the fixed jaw 13. The lower part of the jaw E isconnected by a hinge, F, to the part D of the base-plate A, and thishinge may be formed by turning over the end of the part D in tubularform, as shown at a, so as to receive a pin, G, which also passesthrough a similar tube, 1), formed on the end of a shank, H, at thelower part of the jaw E, theztube b being fitted in a slot madetransversely in the tube a. (See Fig. 2.) The two jaws B E are fittedsnugly. to opposite sides of the necks of the rails G O, and are firmlysecured thereto by screw-bolts I I, which pass through both jaws andtransversely through both rails O U. The base-plate A is bolted to thesleeper, and is designed to be permanently attached thereto or never tobe removed, unless a new sleeper or a new chair is required.

In order to remove a rail, the bolts I are removed and the hinged jaw Eturned back or outward from the rails, as shown in red outline inFig. 1. This admits of a rail being removed from the chair and replacedtherein with the greatest facility, and the chair is strong and durable,as the hinge may be made sufficiently massive to insure a firmconnection of thejaw E to the base-plate.

Thisinvention is applicable to either wrought or cast iron chairs.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the fixed'and hinged jaws B E and screw-bolts I witha base-plate, A, arranged substantially as and for the purpose'setforth.

JOHN ARMITAGE. Witnesses:

WILLIAM BRAGANELL, WILLIAM F. MAHER.

